It's Becoming A Habit...

...where I sleep late every Friday morning then leisurely peruse blogs I have neglected (for lack of time, not interest) over the last week.  And then I actually blog. On my own blog. 

Welcome to Friday morning blogging-in-bed-catchup-time. For all my 5 readers.

My concept of sleeping late has evolved ever since Job# 2 became Job# 1. Sleeping late used to mean 11am and sometimes 12 noon..or later. Now? 8am qualifies as late. Never thought I'd see the day. I mean, I WISH I could sleep in that late, but waking up at 5:30am 5 days a week since November has slowly trained me to be the reluctant early bird. It's worth it tho. I mean, hello...Job #1!!??  And Colorado sunrises are almost...but not quite...as gorgeous as Colorado sunsets.  I always wondered what the phrase " Purple mountains majesty" meant. I now know what that means, cause I see it almost every day. And every single day it takes my breath away.

I frequently use the phrase "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". Taken from "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. Read the book in high school. And while I remember some of the story, the first line is what I remember the most. So I tend to use it when it fits. 

This last week it fit. 

So many of my close friends have lost family members recently. Won't mention them  out of respect and privacy. When a loved one loses another loved one, it hurts everyone that's a part of their life, even if you didn't personally know the deceased. It hurts because your friends are despondant and you realize that no matter what you say or do or wish, it won't bring back their loved one. The one time when your friend needs you the most, you are powerless to truly help with the one thing that would stop the hurt and cease the tears. It's the death part of life and death and it truly sucks.

This past week several friends had setbacks where life unexpectedly sucker punched them. Furnaces kicked the bucket. Cars died. Hard drives crashed (fyi, back up your info every night!) And life in general was not kind to them. Yeah, I know stuff like this happens every day all around the world. But it seems it's happening more frequently to people I know and happening at the worst possible time. Again, suckage.

A year ago tomorrow - 21 Feb - my sister-in-law Michele died. I won't go into detail about how she died but I can tell you that since her death, our family hasn't been the same. I won't speak for anyone but myself in this regard, but I miss her like crazy. 

Michele loved bunnies...all sorts of bunnies. She had a huge bunny collection and whenever we would talk I would always tell her about the numerous Colorado cottontails that hung out in my yard. The day she died, that night it was decided that my sisters Diane and Kelly and I would all buy little stuffed bunnies that we'd bury with Michele. Our way to make sure she was surrounded by momentos of what she loved. Corny I know, but it made us feel good.  And now, every time I see a bunny, I think of Michele.

As I've thought of Michele this past week, I've also thought of my family and how much I miss them. Wasn't able to go to California for the holidays. The last time I saw my family was last year at Michele's funeral. It was good to see them then...it would be wonderful to see them now. They are not into the internet at all...not in the least. I wish they were as it would make the distance seem less distant and I'd feel more in touch and connected. (Yeah, it's all about me :-> )

Lest this turn into a downer diary, several wonderful things happened this week...aka 'the best of times'.

My job, which I love beyond words, continues to be everything that I was looking for. I've never laughed so much at work as I have since November 2008. I love to laugh...it is good for the soul (as they say) and in Kathyland laughter is ranked right up there with internet, a roof over my head, electricity and running water. And bacon!

A friend that I hadn't heard from in too long reached out and made my day. Which was awesome.

Attended Boulder Beer and Blog (thanks Andrew and Jeremy!) and met some amazing and inspiring people...my favorite kind!

Attended Ignite Boulder 3

One of the many brain-children of my awesome buddy Andrew Hyde  Ignite Boulder 3 was amazing! Funny! Informative!  And I discovered all sorts of things about Zombies, Pissing People Off, Boobs, Singing Your Way Out Of Danger and so much more. Got to hang out with my buddy Mr. Bacon  which was also an adventure of the coolest kind. Made new friends as well.  Wednesday was a very awesome night.

Driving to work the next day (in a wet T-shirt cause  sometimes I forget to put wet laundry into the dryer) I thought about all the sad/happy/scary/somber/uplifting events of this past week.  The sky was clear blue and cloudless, the mountains immense and beautiful. I decided that this will be a good year...one of the best. 

Yeah, the economy is crappy. I had hoped to sell my house in the short term and found out I won't be able to; I really want to move closer to work but it's not gonna happen anytime soon. Friends will continue to lose family members. Shit will continue to happen. It's life and sometimes life will really suck.

At the risk of sounding like one of those eternally optimistic Pollyanna's that you want to bash in the head with a baseball bat, I know that things will be ok. And whatever sadness is going on in my life or anyone else's, it will get better. 

In the meantime, be nice to yourself. Be kind to strangers. Reach out even if you might feel weird doing so. Try to be a little more understanding when things don't go your way. I spent last night beating myself up for something that seemed to be huge last night; today, not so much.

My weekend's here so I'll wrap this up.

Have a good one and thanks for checking in at Kathyland.

Comments

[rosalicious]

You are absolutely right - it always gets better!:)

[hdw]

I absolutely believe it turns around! And in the meantime, sunrises and sunsets are good reminders that the day ahead is a new one. Or something. Full of wine. Yeah, that's it.